


Let Me Be Your Missing Puzzle Piece

by MD5991



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-17
Updated: 2012-11-17
Packaged: 2017-11-18 22:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/565768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MD5991/pseuds/MD5991
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Obliviousness is like a plague at Dalton, especially when it comes to a certain blonde and brunette; but until a school trip takes a turn for the worst as The Warblers face nearly losing one of their own, Nick and Jeff soon start to realise that to one another, 3 simple words can just about save their life. Niff. Near-death character experience.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The rain beat down on the picturesque structure that was Dalton Academy, it's droplets falling evenly on the windows of the old building, forming a gentle rhythmic tempo that resonated throughout the many halls and corridors.

Over on the far side of the grounds, in the west building, Jeff Sterling sat listening to this tuneful patter of raindrops, half-listening to Mr. Porter's lecture on American history, allowing his mind to wander elsewhere, away from the dreariness of the classroom. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy History, no, quite the opposite in fact, Jeff had been top of the class in the subject since he started Dalton, it was just today, being a mixture of the miserable weather and a lack of enthusiasm towards hearing his teacher drone on about the never-ending list of events that happened throughout American history, Jeff just couldn't focus his mind to the lesson before him.

Out of the corner of his eye Jeff saw a ball of paper land swiftly on the desk, he quickly turned around to catch Trent grinning widely and motioning for him to read it. Jeff reverted his attention to the ball of paper and quickly unravelled it, smothering out the creases and reading the barely legible message that had been scribbled down by the fellow warbler.

You better get a move on with these questions or Porter's gonna skin you alive Jeffrey. You may not make it out of the cupboard this time :P

Jeff turned back and half-smiled at his friend, he had been so out of it he hadn't realised the questions that had been set on the board. He tried to revert his attention back to the blank sheet of paper awaiting extended answers, but he just couldn't get his mind to focus on the task being set. He knew he'd have to write something soon, otherwise Mr. Porter was going to notice and Jeff would find himself sitting in this classroom for longer than the duration of the lesson.

His history teacher was particularly harsh with detentions, any other teacher at Dalton, and believe me there wasn't that many, would simply make the students write lines or an essay on why they shouldn't forget their homework or on whatever reason their punishment was for.

But no, Porter's detentions involved demeaning labour, mostly the daunting task of polishing the many figurines of important historical figures that lined the shelves of the history department.

The boys often joked about the cupboard that was a part of Mr. Porter's room, it was used as a storage space for many historical artefacts that were used in class, but word spread that Porter stored many undue items in there and there were even rumours of certain teachers getting it in there behind closed doors. All of this was probably started by some remarkably bored freshmans, but gossip spread throughout Dalton like the plague and eventually it just became like common knowledge in the place. Sometimes Jeff wondered if this was really an all boys school, or a school for gossiping girls in disguise.

Either way Jeff didn't really fancy spending his evening in Porter's cupboard polishing objects and planning his attack in case his teacher tried to make a move on him, it was quite a disturbing thought to be honest.

Jeff quickly remembered he was supposed to be starting the work, he had to get his act together and focus, otherwise that was exactly what was going to happen. He attempted the first question, flicking through his textbook frantically for the answer, boy did he have a lot of reading to do after this class, he was sure they hadn't done half of these topics the textbook had shown. He was really falling behind now, he took a quick glance at Trent who had his head down into his paper scribbling away.

"Psst, Trent"

Trent quickly looked up, hands fidgeting, clearly wanting to finish the remainder of his well scripted answer that was circling his brain.

"What?"

"What page is the answer to the first one on?"

"You're only on the..." the round faced boy sighed, looking back to his own work "page 36"

36\. What a coincidental number, that was his and Nick's number. He was 6 and Nick was his 3. His Nick. He was the 6 to Nick's 3. They had started calling each other that last year, after they had auditioned along with Kurt for a solo at sectionals, both of them had moved up that time, it had only taken Jeff 6 auditions to get that far. Nick was luckier, 3 auditions and he made it to the next step. So from then on they became the 36 Mafia, mostly referred to that by the warblers but eventually by the majority of the school, once they caught on and decided to join in the shipping.

To most of the people at Dalton Academy, Nicholas Duval was just a student, a member of the warblers, a classmate, another rich kid attending a prestique private school. But to Jeff, Nick was everything. The short, dark haired boy with the goofy smile and glimmer in his eyes was his room-mate, his best friend, his 3, and (unknown to Nick) the love of his life.

Jeff hadn't thought about the possibility of being gay until earlier this year, sure there was a number of gay people at Dalton, and he respected that, he just didn't think he himself would end up falling for one of his classmates.

He wouldn't class himself as completely gay, bisexual seemed more fitting, for he did have a slight crush on the blonde cheerleader from McKinley after that time the warblers came to say goodbye to Kurt and helped Blaine serenade him in song. But Jeff knew deep down it wasn't true love, just like he knew his feelings for Nick were more than just a crush. Yes they were best friends and had a close relationship, they were literally joined at the hip, but Jeff wanted more than to just be Nick's 'best friend', he hoped one day he could add the word 'boyfriend' to their vocabulary.

He hadn't told Nick any of this, heck he hadn't even told anyone he was bi, not even the warblers who were his close friends. Frankly, he was scared, scared that Nick didn't feel the same way, scared that it would shatter their friendship, scared that it would push them apart. Jeff didn't want any of that, the thought of losing Nick terrified him, he couldn't imagine walking the corridors of Dalton without his best friend by his side, even if he was dragging along and complaining every few seconds about nothing, Jeff just couldn't imagine the world without Nick. His Nick.

Jeff immediately turned his attention back to reality when he saw Mr. Porter stand up and begin writing more notes on the board, he rested his face on his hand and stared at the board blankly, preparing himself for another lecture on another important figure in American history, this would be a good time to return to his thoughts, even if they were about Nick and he needed a good grade in history to go on his college application, Nick was more important, at least in Jeff's mind. He could always copy up the notes from Trent later.

So where was he? Ah Nick, Jeff loved everything about the boy; his beautiful smile, his extravagant personality, at first Nick would have seemed like a shy, quiet boy, it wasn't until you sat listening to him chatter on in warbler practise that you would then realise he was in fact the opposite and you had a hard time getting him to shut up. But Jeff loved that all the more, listening to Nick ramble on about nothing was like listening to an angel speak the words of religion.

He especially liked his reactions to when Jeff hid his hair gel, Nick had recently developed an obsession with the substance and it was all Blaine Anderson's fault.

Since freshman year Nick would skip through the corridors of Dalton with his bangs in his eyes with not a care in the world, it wasn't until Nick tripped over a chair leg and sent an unsteady Trent crashing into the council's table during a rehearsal of 'Raise Your Glass', that Blaine (along with an unamused Wes who had just been the cushion to the other boy's fall) had realised that having hair obstructing your vision during an upbeat number was not a good idea and instructed Nick to get a haircut. After he had refused, Blaine had resorted to drowning the boys hair in an insane amount of gel in an attempt to keep it away from his eyes.

He must say it had worked, for there was not another stumble or clumsy fall after that, although Jeff did miss Nick's long messy hair that hung freely over his eyes and made him look like a little kid, which Jeff found adorable, he had to say that Nick's new look was quite hot, his hair gelled back, nice and sleek like a gentleman out of a kick ass movie, it made him appear more like a man than a little kid, not to mention the practicality of it – to which the warblers agreed.

Nick was becoming nearly as bad as Blaine now, their dorm's ensuite bathroom was filled with numerous different containers of the stuff, since Blaine had transferred near the beginning of the year, Jeff had sworn Nick had become the new Blaine Anderson, he had even taken over as lead warbler until Sebastian Smythe had came along and dimmed his spotlight. But it didn't matter, Nick was still the star in Jeff's eyes.

"Mr. Sterling!"

Jeff quickly snapped his thoughts back to reality upon hearing his name, he looked up to see a growing frustrated Mr. Porter glaring down at him from his spot infront of the board, his classmates' wide eyes staring at him in sympathy, hoping he wouldn't be unlucky enough to face the wrath of the cupboard after class.

"Yes sir?" Jeff spoke up, his voice a little hoarse from the lack of use throughout the lesson.

"It appears someone hasn't been paying attention. Let me repeat the question for you again" Mr Porter snarled smirking at the blonde boy infront of him.

"In what state was President Kennedy in when he was assassinated?"

Jeff hadn't the faintest idea, he searched his classmates' faces for some sort of hint, unfortunately none of them seemed to have done their reading either, so it was now down to the first thing that popped into his brain.

"Well sir, he was in a terrible state, I mean he died" Jeff answered quickly

Mr. Porter's face turned an unpleasant plum shade as an uproar of laughter filled the classroom, it wasn't until Trent has simply asked Jeff if his blonde hair dye had seeped through his scalp and into his brain that Jeff had realised what he had just said and immediately felt his face turning a deep shade of red. He wasn't even a natural blonde, yes he did have a few 'moments' that reflected the actions of a stereotypical blonde, but he couldn't believe he had just said that aloud in class, infront of Mr. Porter, he was screwed now.

"Detention!" Mr. Porter thundered "And since Mr. Sterling here thinks he is some sort of comedian, each and every one of you will now write a 5 page essay on President John F Kennedy, due tomorrow!"

The sea of laughter was now filled with groans and occasional "thanks" and "way to go Jeff"s as Mr Porter began making his way back to his desk. After the colour had eventually faded from Jeff's face and he had began to make a start on the questions, the bell rang signalling the end of third period and the start of lunchtime. Everyone quickly packed up their belongings and left the classroom, Jeff was quietly walking last out of the room with a now unamused Trent when Mr. Porter stopped him in his tracks.

"My office, 6:30, Mr Sterling" Mr Porter said not looking up from his pile of papers he was busy marking.

"Yes sir" Jeff said quickly beginning to walk slowly out of the door "sorry sir" he quickly added before quickening his pace and all but running after Trent who was slowly making his way towards the cafeteria.

Okay so his day hadn't started the best of ways, he had woken up extremely tired, had missed breakfast since he had spent a good half an hour searching for his shoes (only to be found hidden away in Nick's drawers – he was going to get him back for that later) he had suffered through 3 ridiculously boring lessons and had another 2 to survive after lunch, and to top it all off, he now had detention with Mr. Porter after school. Yes, today just wasn't Jeff's day at all.

But it was okay, because it was lunchtime now and Jeff could now revert his attention away from the work (not that it was entirely focused on that anyway) and sit with the rest of the warblers discussing all sorts of ridiculous things, and most importantly, spending a whole hour with Nick. His Nick.

Maybe the rest of the day wouldn't be so bad after all.


	2. Chapter 2

The cafeteria filled up quickly soon after the bell rang, the warblers had already marked their territory and had left their bags and belongings around a large table and proceeded to join the growing lunch line. Today they were serving tater-tots, much to everyone's delight as usually the food served at Dalton was quite bland and ordinary, which was to explain why the behaviour (mostly of the lower years) was quite over-enthusiastic this lunchtime.

Nick Duval waited patiently alone at that back of elongated queue, he hadn't quite gotten to the front as quick enough as the other warblers had, and it wasn't in his nature to push in. It was okay though, Nick wasn't particularly a big fan of the tots, unlike the other warblers who were now piling their plates high with the glowing potato balls. He couldn't understand people's fascination with them, they were merely just like french fries rolled in a ball, but he often thought the cooks had added some other ingredient that caused the students to become addicted and dependant on them, but maybe those thoughts were down to him and Jeff watching too much Doctor Who.

Boy he wished Jeff would hurry up, he felt a bit silly standing on his own in the never-ending lunch queue, people must be thinking that the warblers had abandoned him or that he didn't have friends in the first place. None of that was true of course, the warblers loved Nick, he was a part of their family and would always will be, even if he sometimes drove Thad and David up the wall occasionally, they still loved him like a brother.

But Jeff was something else, Jeff was his best friend, he was like a non-identical twin brother to Nick, the two were literally joined at the hip, at one point they actually almost were, it was during sophomore year when Flint had played a prank on the two and had handcuffed them together whilst they were sleeping. They had been forced to spend every second of the day together, even making excuses to the other warblers as to why they felt the need to go everywhere with the other by their side, even to the bathroom. The rest of the school were oblivious to what was going on, they were so used to seeing Nick and Jeff walking arm-in-arm through the school that they wouldn't have noticed if the two looked as if they had their hands entwined together.

Yes Jeff meant a lot to Nick, for he was more than just a room-mate, a best friend or a fellow warbler; he was Nick's secret crush.

The blonde was always there for Nick whenever something happened, the two used to share in their disappointment when they failed to move up from the audition round for the chance at a warblers solo. He was there whenever Nick got sick, and Nick would then carry out his duties of nursing Jeff whenever he was hit by the same nasty virus. Jeff was there for Nick when he went through a pretty heated break-up with his ex Helen, a girl from their sister school Crawford. Nick hadn't told Jeff all the details, but he had made it pretty obvious that he was not okay with being dumped when he returned and had pretty much dived into the blonde's arms and had begun sobbing hysterically. Jeff had just held him, muttering soothing words into the boys ears until he eventually calmed down and was ready to open up and tell him what had happened. In all fairness, Jeff knew it wouldn't have lasted, Nick was too good for her and Jeff really didn't take a liking to Helen upon their first meeting, she was too much of a posh snob and had pretty much just used Nick as a way to get her parents off of her back.

Unfortunately for Nick, he had developed a genuine interest in the girl and had therefore played into her trap. Yes when he had found out the truth devastated wasn't the word, but at least he had Jeff there awaiting him with open arms. Having Jeff just holding him, embracing him in his arms was more than enough comfort, for pretty soon after, the events from earlier that day had been forgotten and Nick had just decided he should just get over it and never trust a Crawford girl again.

Nick had always felt comfortable around Jeff, more comfortable than with any other of the warblers. He knew there was something there, the way Jeff's eyes sparkled whenever he sung made Nick's heart swell, he was just so breathtaking and beautiful, Nick couldn't help the fluttering feeling in his stomach whenever he watched the blonde perform. Not to mention the boy's body, man was it hot! Nick couldn't help taking a peek of Jeff's rather ripped stomach during gym class, I mean who couldn't resist getting an eyeful of the impeccable six-pack that lay under the smooth tanned skin of the tall boy.

Nick was so deep into his thoughts about his best friend that he didn't see the tall meerkat-faced boy that was Sebastian Smythe come and join him in his place in the lunch queue.

"Didn't quite get there quick enough Duval?" Sebastian said in a cool tone looking down at the smaller boy.

Nick just glanced up, reverting his attention back to reality. The line had now died down a bit, but he now realised he was stuck standing next to the captain of the warblers who had obviously just pushed past a group of freshmen in order to be next to the, what appeared, lonely, brunette.

"Uh..yeah I guess not" Nick started, looking back and forth towards the front of the line, hoping it would get a move on so he wouldn't have to endure much of Sebastian for longer.

It wasn't that he didn't like the boy, which was strange considering that was the case with the rest of the school. It wasn't that at all, the times Nick had actually had a proper conversation with the guy he had come across as alright, maybe even a tad bit friendly. Although there were obviously some unknown issues in his past that had made him the snarky, conceited figure that he was during warbler rehearsal. Not much was known about the boy, he had just arrived at Dalton earlier this year after boasting about transferring over from his life in Paris, then he had came and took over the warblers as captain – the council had been disbanded much to Thad and David's discontent but none of the boys had had the gut to challenge him about it, so the show choir group from then on had being under Sebastian's rule.

It was awkward for Nick though, out of all of the warblers, even Jeff, Sebastian had taken a particular liking to him. Nick couldn't see why though, there wasn't anything that special about him, but he was one of the few people that Sebastian made civil conversation with, without putting across any snide remarks or biting a person's head off. It was becoming too much of an interest though recently, as there had been a few times during practise where Nick had felt Sebastian's strong arms slither their way around his waist, causing the smaller boy to jump and lose track of where he was. It was starting to become rather annoying actually, Nick assumed Sebastian was gay, the others had already suspected this and had labelled him a slut after watching him frivolously flirt with Nick and a few other boys at his own will. To cut a long story short, Sebastian Smythe wasn't the most favourited person at Dalton.

The line had pretty much subsided by the time Nick had reached the front and had picked up some food and went to join the rest of the warblers at the table. Jeff was already sat down, motioning for him to come and sit in the empty space next to him. Nick hadn't noticed the blonde come in, nor did he notice him collect any food, Jeff was a mystery sometimes, but the shorter boy figured it must have took some James Bond style dodging for the taller boy to scramble his way to the front unnoticed.

Cameron and David had just started recovering from a laughing fit as an overly excited Trent finished telling his story about the events that happened during the history lesson. Nick couldn't help but laugh, Jeff could be too funny sometimes, through no fault of his own, the boy just seriously lacked some common sense at times, however Nick thought the sheepish smile and red tinge in the boys cheeks was just too cute, he had to resist the urge not to pull Jeff into a big hug, instead he playfully smacked the back of his head mumbling "silly" to the boy.

It was nearing the end of lunchtime by the time the warblers eventually started making conversation about anything other than being blonde, Porter's cupboard or the new french teacher in whom they had serenaded with 'Uptown Girl' not that long ago. David thought it was the moment to raise the question.

"So are you's all going on this trip then? You know the one Marshall's being banging on about all day?"

It was true, Mr. Marshall was the gym coach at Dalton Academy and once he had an idea in his head for a trip, he would not shut up about it. Last year the seniors had taken a trip to the Brazilian Jungle and had had the opportunity to try out the high ropes course, unfortunately the trip had come to an end sooner than planned when one of the boys slipped, hit a tree and broke his leg in 3 places. Every school trip that involved a subject such as gym usually ended up with something going wrong, whether that being the accommodation being broken in to (which happened not 3 years ago) or one of the boys falling dangerously ill or becoming injured. Mr. Marshall just didn't have much luck with these things.

Unfortunately for Nick and the rest of the juniors, the trip was kind of compulsory, Thad and David being the only seniors in the group had an option of whether or not they wanted to tag along. This year's plan seemed a bit more exciting; skiing in the Alberta Mountains in Canada, it beat the previous ideas for trips by a long shot.

"I've never even skied before though" Trent stated looking up at the others who had just finished discussing the new found plans for the trip.

"Ah it's easy dude" Thad said matter of factly "once you get the hang of having two long spears on your feet and travelling down a mountain at like 30mph, it's quite fun"

Obviously Thad had done it all before, Thad had done everything all before. He's family were the type to really go out there and try anything thrown at them, Nick would be surprised if the dark hared boy didn't have skydiving on his list of hobbies.

"I've been once, when I was younger, well when I say younger, I mean like a few years ago" Jeff spoke up looking up at the rest of the group

"And?" Trent replied searching for an answer in the blonde's face "what was it like?"

"fun.. until I lost one of my skis and had to convince my parents that a dude needed one of them to fish his goggles out of a tree"

The warblers looked at one another smirking, before shaking their heads and looking back at Jeff. Nick could just imagine Mr. and Mrs. Sterling's reaction to Jeff's story, boy he wished he had been there, it would have been a great moment to witness.

He quickly turned his attention away from the thoughts of Mr. Sterling spanking Jeff on the bottom with his other ski, to the rest of the group, who had begun talking amongst themselves again. He realised if he was going to go on this trip, which he mostly likely was going to, he would want the rest of the warblers to be in his group too, even Sebastian, the boy needed a chance to prove himself to the others as a decent enough guy.

"So if we get all our forms in by this time next week, there'll be a good chance we'll all be together, right?" Nick asked from one side of the table, turning round and smiling at Jeff

"Most likely, to be honest Marshall and them don't really care what groups with who, so there's no rush really" David replied smiling across at the brunette.

Phew, Nick thought. He needed to have a think about this. He was going to go, heck he had to go it was sort of compulsory, but he needed to have a think about what was involved. Skiing. He had never come close to doing anything like this before, he had always been too scared. See, ever since Nick was little and his cousin had dared him to climb up the old oak tree which resulted in him getting stuck, Nick had been afraid of heights. The thought of travelling up the mountains in those unsteady tin boxes that passed as cable cars was quite frightening, Nick had all sorts of images of disasters that could happen planted in his mind. But he couldn't be a wimp, no. The warblers would simply laugh at him, tell him to man up and stop being such a girl. He had to figure out a way to put on a brave face, for the rest of the group, for Jeff, he didn't want to ruin the trip for the other boy who was now starting to look quite excited about it.

Nick heard Jeff groan as the bell sounded for the end of lunch, the warblers quickly gathered up their things, bid farewell to one enough and began walking off in the directions of their afternoon lessons. Nick had double math next, boy was this afternoon going to drag, he thought whilst turning back and waving to Jeff who had begun to make his way to his English class.


	3. Chapter 3

The two remaining lessons went by pretty quickly for Jeff, considering all they did in English was discuss poetry notes and since their art teacher had called in sick, a sub had taken over and had decided that she didn't have the patience to be dealing with teenage boys and paint in one room, so she had allowed them to have a free period. Which was a relief for most of the boys who had just suffered through a depressing prolonged day and really didn't have the motivation to paint the remaining unequivocal features on to their pieces.

Jeff had taken advantage of this free time to head back up to his dorm in an attempt to straighten up the room, in his mad rush to find his shoes this morning he had left the dorm in a right state so he knew at some point he would have had had to come up and sort it before he and Nick would be lectured about their messiness by the dorm inspectors. He had turned down the offer to join Flint and Cameron who had decided they were going to use the time to get some extra lacrosse practise in, Jeff didn't even play the sport so he saw no point in spending an hour watching the two run up and down the field with a stick. Even though his father had pushed him into joining sports in his hope that one day Jeff would become captain of a Dalton sports team, Jeff just didn't have much luck with sports, he was more of a creative person – his time spent well singing or dancing or painting, not getting down and dirty on a field. He had given up trying to play lacrosse at the start of freshmen year when he had accidentally launched the ball at Miss. Carlson's face and shattered her glasses. That didn't mean he didn't go to support his friends during matches, he still stood in the stands cheering them on like a true supporter, even though half the time he had no idea why this person couldn't move there, or this person couldn't have possession of the ball here and so on.

The corridors of Dalton were deserted, everyone would still be in class working away at this time, with the exception of the seniors who would either be lounging around in the common room or taking a stroll around the grounds, but judging by the weather outside, Jeff thought the common room seemed like a more realistic choice for the students.

He quickly made his way up the staircase and along the corridor to the dorms, stopping outside his and Nick's room to fiddle around inside his blazer for the key. After retrieving the little silver object, he turned the lock and entered the room, quickly dumping his bag on the bed and walking over to the small cabinet that sat sandwiched between the twin beds on one side of the room. He began to take off his watch and set it down on the wooden surface, it had been a gift from his grandfather a few years ago who had unfortunately passed away not that long ago, so Jeff treasured the item a lot, it really had sentimental value as it had been passed through generations of the Sterling family, he had been given a duty to take care of it, which meant keeping it safely tucked away when it was not being worn and out of the reach of his best friend, who had a particular bad habit of misplacing things.

Jeff then made a start on clearing up the room, he began to pick up the many sheets of paper that lined the floor around the desk, and began to sort out the pile of clothes that lay untouched in the corner, most of whom were Nick's. Jeff had to admit, he did have a touch of OCD, for he even sorted out the piles of dirty and clean socks into order of colour and placed them neatly back into their places before making a start on the wardrobe.

It had taken Jeff over half an hour to fully clean out and organise the shared wardrobe, which in that time he had managed to neaten up both his and Nick's side, separating their uniform from their casual weekend clothes and gathering up the many empty packets of Red Vines and Twizzlers that lay scattered at the back of the wardrobe, he didn't even have to think twice about which one of the warblers had decided to stuff all of their rubbish away into the back, for he knew that holding the two boys responsible for owning an insane amount of sweets would be an easy way for the sassy warbler to get a Wes Montgomery off of his back about having a sugar addiction.

By the time Jeff had finished disposing of the empty packets and giving the room one more thorough clean, he was exhausted. He looked at the clock, realising he still had roughly 25 minutes left before last period finished and the dorm rooms would once again become occupied. This gave Jeff enough time to have a quick nap before Nick got back to rant on about how boring his lessons had been, he thought he better appreciate the quietness while it lasted.

Slipping off his shoes and blazer, Jeff began to feel his eyes become heavy as he made his way over to the beds loosening his tie as he did so. He quickly flopped onto the nearest bed, which in this case had been Nick's, and began to relax against the pillows.

He had always liked Nick's bed better than his own, it was next to the window meaning it was cool and the mattress was slightly softer than his, not to mention the fact it held the scent of the boy he was in love with which made it easier to relax in. Jeff turned his back to the wall and caught sight of the framed photograph that sat on the cabinet between the beds, he made a reach for it, pulling it closer into the view of his tired eyes and studied it carefully, he smiled as he felt the memories of that day flooding back to him. It was a photo of all of the warblers (including Blaine and Kurt) after they had tied with McKinley at the 2010 Western Ohio Sectionals, everyone looked so happy, even Kurt who had obviously felt a bit uncomfortable performing with the rival team to his old glee club, but the face that caught Jeff's eyes was no one other than Nick's, the boy looked both a mixture of surprised and happy, he had a big grin plastered on his face and a glimmer of joy reflected in his eyes, it was the happiest Jeff had ever seen him since after the break-up with Helen, it was nice to see him genuinely smile again, it made Jeff's heart swell realising that he was getting his chirpy and charming Nick back.

He set the frame back down and pulled Nick's pillow tighter into his chest, inhaling the scent of it that smelt so much like his best friend. If only it could be Nick, if only he could imagine that he was lying here with his friend wrapped in his arms, almost like that night when he had comforted Nick and let him sleep in his bed with him. It had only happened the one time, Nick had been so distraught he just needed someone to hold him and Jeff had been that very person. He knew it would probably never happen again though, Nick was single and looked to be staying that way for the moment, at least until he could build up the courage to ask another girl out. Jeff's mind however wandered to the thoughts about Nick during warbler practise, and the way in which he just let that slut Sebastian touch him, it made Jeff's blood boil the way Sebastian had just slithered his way in and began eyeing up his best friend, but what if Nick had just let him do because, he liked it? He liked him? He liked Sebastian!

Jeff could feel the tears brimming in his eyes now, no, that couldn't be possible, Sebastian was horrible to everyone, okay so he may have been a bit civil with Nick, but there was no way Nick could find him nice. Sure he was attractive Jeff had to admit, but his appalling personality outweighed his looks, which is mainly the reason why everybody disliked him. Well, nearly everyone, Jeff had noticed Nick's lack of input to conversations that involved bitching about 'Slutty Smythe', whilst all of the other warblers would be making funny remarks about the meerkat faced boy, Nick would just sit there, silent, looking at everyone with eyes of remorse as he listened to the others continue with their backstabbing of the other boy, it was almost as if Nick was defending him deep down. This had really gotten to Jeff, who could defend Sebastian? He was not worthy of being defended by the way he treat his teammates, surely Nick could see that. There was only one other explanation for it, Nick liked him. It had to be, but Nick wasn't even gay, was he? Unless Sebastian had flirted with him to the point where the brunette had given up and went to play for the other team, but Nick would have told Jeff, he was his best friend after all, there were barely any secrets between the two.

Jeff could feel the tears slowly starting to stream down his face now, he couldn't believe it, he just couldn't believe it. If this kept going on, he was going to lose Nick. His Nick. He couldn't let that happen, no, he was going to confront Sebastian next practise, tell him to lay off of his best friend, but in the meantime all Jeff could do was wait for Nick to come back, come back to their room, come back to him. He slowly allowed himself to fall into a deep sleep and into a dream where Sebastian Smythe did not exist and Jeff could have Nick in his arms all the time.

Jeff awoke to the sound of rustling coming from the other side of the room. He slowly began to open his eyes taking in his surroundings, it was then he realised he was lying on Nick's bed, in their room, and that he had actually been in a deep sleep and hadn't realised the bell had rung signalling the end of classes for the day. He took in the image of a figure dressed in uniform sat crossed legged on his bed.

"Nick?" Jeff spoke up, squinting as the light shined brightly into his sleep filled eyes.

"Not quite Jeffrey" came a voice that Jeff recognised instantly as Trent's.

Jeff sat up, flattening out his shirt that had became slightly creased and smoothing down his bed hair. Trent was sitting on Jeff's bed, happily munching away on a pack of Twizzlers, looking at his friend in a gratifying way.

"How'd you get in here?" Jeff asked watching Trent successfully shove a whole strand of the red licorice into his mouth in one go "And where's Nick?"

"You left the door open man, I thought I'd come and take a visit to my favourite two warbler's room" Trent smiled eagerly at Jeff "So did you find your Nicky then?"

Jeff looked up at the other boy, confusion in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Jeff asked, reaching out to grab a Twizzler from half empty packet.

Trent grinned like a child, stopping to munch on the sweet before saying

"You in your sleep, every few seconds it was 'Oh Nicky, where's Nicky? I have to find my Nicky? Nicky this, Nicky that', jesus Jeff you would think he was like attached to you, I wish I'd had gotten it on video, it was quite funny"

Jeff could feel his face turning a similar colour to the sweet that was in his hand, was he really talking in his sleep? And about Nick? He couldn't even remember what he had dreamt about, and if he had had been talking in his sleep and Trent had been sitting listening, this was not a good thing, for soon the rest of the Warblers would know, including Nick, this was definitely not a good thing.

Then again, Trent may have just been winding him up, the round faced boy liked to do that a lot, he once convinced Wes that his gavel had been taken away by the FBI for suspicious usage, Wes was not happy when he found out that it had just been another one of Trent's wind-ups.

Jeff quickly turned his attention back to the other boy in the room.

"I was probably just having a random dream, nothing weird or anything, I can't even remember what it was about" Jeff said letting the heat fade from his face back to it's usual tanned complexion.

"well it was obviously about Nick" Trent smirked raising an eyebrow at the other boy

Oh no, Jeff knew that face, Trent was getting suspicious, what if he knew? What if he knew that Jeff had a crush on Nick, well, more than a crush? Jeff quickly tried to change the subject to something other than his attractive best friend.

"So how was math then, fun?" Jeff asked

"Of course" Trent said sarcastically, eyeing Jeff at his sudden change in subject "if you would call sitting watching slutface giggle and play with your roommate whilst trying to do algebra fun"

Jeff's head quickly snapped back up. Had he heard right? Sebastian 'playing' with Nick, that brought out some pretty disturbing thoughts in Jeff's mind, but if it had taken place in a maths classroom with a teacher present it couldn't have been as bad as he thought. But still, this was getting a bit too much for Jeff to take in, he already had to witness Sebastian 'playing' with Nick during warbler practise, but now it was happening during class too, classes which Sebastian and Nick had together, classes Jeff didn't take, classes where the two could flirt happily without Jeff sitting there watching like a third-wheel.

He could feel his heart slowly starting to break and became completely oblivious to the other boys presence in the room, he slowly got up and began to pull on his shoes.

"Hey where are you going?" Trent asked looking up at the blonde with a hint of concern in his eyes

"For a walk" Jeff said, pulling on his blazer and eyeing Trent who was still staring at him with regard "If you see Nick, tell him, that I'll be back later and not to wait up for me"

Trent nodded, half-smiling at the boy and muttering a quick "bye" to him before returning to finish off his pack of Twizzlers. Why had Jeff been so bothered? Trent thought thinking back to Jeff's actions less than a minute ago, it was only Sebastian being Sebastian, he was just playing around like a sleaze. Unless Jeff was jealous, maybe he was jealous that Nick had befriended Sebastian and forgotten about Jeff, but he knew that wasn't true, the two were inseparable, come on, even Jeff should know that Nick would never leave Jeff to go and play best buds with Sebastian. Unless, Jeff liked Nick? It had kind of being obvious to him and the warblers that Jeff had some sort of connection to the brunette, they actually considered the idea of the two being like long lost brothers, but now it was starting to make sense, maybe Jeff did like Nick. But wait, hold up! Since when did Jeff become gay? This was starting to become pretty juicy, Trent thought, maybe he should ask Nick about it. No, what if he didn't know, and that would be pretty sly on Jeff. No, for once, Trent Nixon was going to keep quiet,and was going to stand back and let things unfold for themselves, he may pitch in with a bit of help later on but his main concern for the moment was for Nick to find Jeff to make sure he was okay.

With that, Trent got up and exited the dorm, closing the door carefully behind him and making his way back to his room in which he shared with Andrew. Taking the empty pack of Twizzlers with him this time.


	4. Chapter 4

Over the last few hours, the rain had gradually started to become heavier, leaving the outside of the school buildings with a rather dreary and démodé look; the stagnant puddles had slowly began to rise until eventually the water had began to flood on to the ornate stone steps that housed the main entrance to the school.

Apart from a few teachers hastily making their way across the dank courtyard, the grounds of Dalton were deserted; the only form of hominal movement coming from the tall blonde who was apprehensively making his way along the main path, tears brimming in his eyes as he hurriedly strode out of the front gates and into the car park.

Jeff had known it was a bad idea to just get up and leave like that, now Trent is definitely going to know something is up, but he just needed to get out of there, away from the commotion in the school, away from the (probably already suspicious) warblers, away from that slut, and; away from Nick.

He quickly made his way to the far end of the car park, getting out his keys from his pocket, he began unlocking his car, at the same time trying to ignore the fact that his blazer was now pretty damp and he was beginning to feel a slight shiver come on. Jeff quickly jumped inside the car, locking the doors after him and began carefully removing his blazer, throwing it on the back seat, hopefully giving it a chance to dry off slightly.

Running a hand through his wet hair, Jeff sat in silence, listening carefully to the rain pounding against the frame of the classic Mercedes-Benz. He let his head rest on the steering wheel before allowing all of his hurt and confusion to come spilling out, letting the stream of tears run quickly down his face and the harsh sobs become heard as he began to break down.

It's not fair, it's just not fair. Jeff thought between hiccuping sobs, he knew he wasn't good enough for Nick, but he couldn't like Sebastian, he just couldn't. That meerkat faced slut would hurt him and he just couldn't let that happen. Not to Nick, not again. Jeff wanted nothing more than for Nick to like him back, to be able to hold his hand walking down the corridor, to be able to place a kiss on those soft sweet lips and to be able to class himself as Nick Duval's boyfriend; but Jeff knew these hopes were unrealistic, for Nick obviously liked someone else and as much as Jeff hated to admit it, Nick just did not love him.

It had taken approximately over twenty minutes for Jeff to calm down and somewhat recover from the recent breakdown. He could feel the puffiness in his eyes and the mild headache beginning to form from the strain of crying, but he simple ignored it and began wiping his face with his shirt sleeve. Jeff knew he couldn't stay here forever, the rain was slowly beginning to subside which would mean people would soon start to make their way out of the buildings and around the grounds, someone was bound to notice him sitting isolated in his car; but he wasn't ready to face Nick yet, not after finding out what he had from Trent.

Jeff just needed to get away from Dalton, at least for just a few hours or so. He went to check his watch only then realising he had left it in his dorm, he was guessing the time was around 5pm, which meant Nick would definitely be back by now and would mostly likely be sat in their dorm studying or hanging with David and Thad.

He needed to talk to someone, someone who he could trust. In any given situation the warblers would be the first people he would turn to, however this situation was slightly different and Jeff wasn't ready to open up about his feelings to them yet. No, he knew the one person who he needed to see, the one person who would give him heartfelt advice, the one person who wouldn't be bias; and the one person who had experienced a similar situation himself.

Jeff quickly glanced at his reflection in the car mirror, flattening down his bangs so the thick pieces of blonde hair covered most of his eyes, hiding the redness that surrounded them. He then grabbed his, now slightly drier blazer from the back seat and slipped it on, fastening the gold button before starting the engine and reversing out of his space in the parking lot. He then began to drive out of the large gates that housed the school and along the elongated road that led out into the nearby areas that surrounded Dalton Academy. After turning right off of a junction, he prepared himself for the roughly one hour long journey to where he needed to be, turning on the radio to help distract his mind from the previous thoughts that had been encircling it this evening.

Nick had been exactly where Jeff had predicted, the brunette had been sitting in David and Thad's room (which previously had been David and Wes' room until the senior had graduated) for the past hour. He had came back from his math class slightly later than usual as Sebastian had asked if he could have a little chat with the brunette about something before he turned in for the evening.

Nick initially thought the conversation would probably be regarding their set list for sectionals, so had been surprised when the taller boy had simply asked him what he knew about the former Warbler Blaine Anderson. He must admit, Nick had been pretty hesitant about telling the boy all of his knowledge regarding his friend, especially after seeing the way Sebastian had aimlessly tried to flirt with Blaine the first time they met, however he felt he could trust Sebastian more now that he knew him, so had simply told him what he should know about the curly haired boy.

When he had eventually returned to his dorm he had been slightly surprised to have not seen the blonde warbler sitting there waiting for him. However after checking the time, he realised that Jeff had probably gone down to serve his detention and would be back soon ready to complain to Nick about the tedious tasks he was made to do for Mr. Porter.

In the meantime, Nick had went to join the two seniors in their room as he waited for his best friend to return. He had thought about just spending the time studying, but had then realised he had had a long enough day of doing work and decided his brain needed a rest, an hour or so spent hanging out with David and Thad wasn't really going to affect his education.

It wasn't until Trent had came knocking on the former council members' door in search of the brunette, that Nick had realised the time, Jeff should be on his way back now.

The round faced warbler just stood at the door shifting slightly, averting his gaze from the two seniors to the smaller boy who had now just began to make his way off of the bed and over to where he stood.

"What's up Trent?" Nick said, pulling the sassy warbler into the room.

"Erm, can I talk to you for a sec Nick?" Trent said looking up from the smaller boy to the two other warblers in the room "in private?"

Nick nodded, turning back to the other two before pushing Trent outside into the corridor, closing the door behind him. From inside the room, David and Thad shot a knowing look at each other, before the two jumped up from their spaces on the beds and began placing an ear against the wooden door.

"Are you okay? What's up dude?" Nick asked with a look of slight concern etched on his face

"Have you seen, er, Jeff around this evening?" Trent asked looking down at the brunette hoping he would have some kinda of clue as to where the blonde had disappeared to.

"Jeff? No, he wasn't in our room when I got back from math class, but I just thought he would have gone straight to his detention"

"Oh" Trent said shuffling slightly on the spot.

"Why?" Nick asked looking up at the fellow warbler with slight confusion.

"Okay, well, er, I saw him after class, he had gotten back to the dorm early, something about Mr. Manning's class having a free period, anyway he was asleep and had left the door open so I thought Id venture in and see what he was up to." Trent began to explain

"Right? And?" Nick asked, confusion still present in his eyes, he was starting to wonder where this was going.

Trent was trying to refrain himself from spilling everything to Nick, he desperately wanted to tell him what he thought, what Jeff had been muttering in his sleep; but he knew that it wasn't his place. So he went on to tell Nick about the rest of the events of the evening.

"Basically we talked a bit about math class, just the usual stuff. And...then I may have mentioned a bit about you and Seb, you know, flirting" Trent said the last part shyly, looking down at his feet.

"WHAT?" Nick exclaimed, causing the other boy to snap his head up, he then began looking up at the round faced warbler with a look of uneasiness.

"We weren't flirting! Well, not exactly. Seb was just carrying on, and, I found it kinda funny. But God Trent, no! We weren't flirting!"

Nick was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable under the other boys gaze.

"Well I kinda think maybe Jeff took it the wrong way, coz he looked a little upset when I told him" Trent explained, carefully looking at the brunette for some kinda of physical response.

Nick just stood there, thoughts beginning to swim around in his mind. Jeff had been upset? Why would Jeff be upset, we weren't doing anything, it was harmless. Unless; Jeff had been jealous. No come on Nick, why would Jeff be jealous? I know Jeff and Seb aren't really best of friends but surely he can't think I would just leave him to hang out with Seb. He doesn't have a problem with me hanging out with the other guys. Then it hit him. OMG what if Jeff likes me? No, don't be stupid Nick of course he doesn't, it's Jeff, the tall, gorgeous, handsome boy who you have been in love with for the past 3 years. No way, last time I checked, Jeff liked that Quinn girl; but what if had begun to have a crush on me? He did say I was cute at one time. No Nick, he doesn't like you, get it into your head! You're his best friend for gods sake, and that is all you will be!

"Nick?"

Nick's attention immediately directed away from his thoughts when he saw a concerned looking Trent waving a hand in front of his face.

"Sorry" Nick said, focusing his attention back to the other boy. "so what else happened?"

"After that, he basically just got up and left, said to tell you not to wait up for him, I thought he was just going for a walk around school but then I'm sure I saw him walking out into the car park, no ones seen him since then"

Nick responded quickly by pulling Trent around the corner and along to the end of the corridor, stopping at the window that stood directly opposite the guidance counsellor's bedroom. From there, the boys had a clear view of the car park, they began scanning the spaces for the familiar Mercedes-Benz that belonged to the blonde warbler.

"It's not there" Trent said after realising the car was nowhere to be found within the parking lot "That means he's gone off campus"

Nick was beginning to feel slightly worried now, Jeff never left the school grounds alone for anything; the times they had left to get out of Westerville on weekends, it had always been the two of them, sometimes joined by the rest of the warblers too. Or the, very rare, times they had bunked off for the afternoon, it had just been the both of them, the 36 duo. 6 couldn't go anywhere alone, especially not without 3.

The last time Jeff had decided to go on a lone stroll had been the time he had failed his English exam, he hadn't been on speaking terms with Nick at the time, the two had had a pretty heated argument the night before about Nick affecting Jeff's studying because he had been holding, what could be described as, a little warbler tea party in their dorm. Jeff had been so upset and annoyed at both himself and Nick he had decided to flee Dalton in his car.

Trent once again spoke up, bringing the brunette's thoughts back to reality.

"Well at least we know he's not hiding now. He'll be back soon, I mean, he'll have to come back before curfew"

Nick nodded, he knew Jeff would return. He was just worried about what he was going to say to the boy when he confronted him about tonight.

"Oh crap!" Trent exclaimed causing Nick to snap his head back up to the round faced warbler "he had detention tonight, Porter's going to absolutely murder him"

Nick had completely forgotten about this. It was true, if a boy didn't turn up to Mr. Porter's detention and didn't have a valid excuse, they would literally be skimmed alive. Nick knew what he had to do to save Jeff's back, as much as he disliked the grumpy history teacher, he loved Jeff and didn't want to see this go down on his personal record., he knew it would crush the boy.

"I'll sort something out, when Jeff gets back tell him not to worry about it" Nick said before patting the other boy on the shoulder and making his way back along the corridor to his room.

Nick quickly slipped inside and grabbed his bag, he then exited the room locking the door behind him and began making his way down the stairs, out of the dorm building and across to the history department. He had a decent enough excuse planned out in his head of what he was going to say to the man, hoping it would be believable enough to get him off Jeff's back.

He stood outside of the junior years' history classroom, immediately catching sight of the grey haired teacher who was still busy grading papers. Fixing his lapels and straightening out his blazer, Nick cleared his throat before knocking on the oak wood door, awaiting for permission to enter.

After he heard a faint "Enter" come from inside the room, he pushed open the door to face a slightly annoyed looking Mr. Porter.

"And what may I do for you? I'm sorry I didn't catch your name, you mustn't be a history student I presume" Mr Porter snarled at Nick giving him a disapproving look.

"No, I'm sorry to bother you sir, I'm Nick-sorry Nicholas, Nicholas Duval, I'm a friend of Jeffrey's, I believe he had detention with you this evening"

Nick hated speaking to teachers that weren't the dean or his subject teachers, he felt he always had to address them in the appropriate Dalton manner, which involved introducing himself using his full name and putting on the 'polite gentleman' act. One of the things you were taught when you attended a state's top all-boys private school, it annoyed Nick sometimes.

"Yes,a detention in which Mr. Sterling decided to not attend. Do you happen to know where he is Mr. Duval?" Mr. Porter turned back towards the brunette.

"Yes sir, you see Jeff wasn't feeling well after last period today. I suggested he get some rest to make sure he was feeling better for class tomorrow, he was very pale and felt ill when I saw him this evening."

Mr. Porter showed a look of understanding, although Nick couldn't help but think the man was secretly just going along with the lie so he would have the chance to confront Jeff tomorrow in front of the whole class. Something else that would probably set Jeff off.

"But I understand punishment must be served here at Dalton, so therefore I have offered to come and take Jeff's place, whatever you require me to do sir, I will do it" Nick stated, immediately beginning to regret opening his mouth to that last bit.

"Very well" Mr. Porter said in his usual monotonous tone as he began to search through his drawers, eventually pulling out a yellow rag and bottle of polish.

"Since you are so keen on helping Mr. Sterling, you can start by polishing the collection of rare Venetian masks located on the top shelf" Mr. Porter motioned towards the cupboard "And you are not to stop until I can see my reflection in each one, understand?"

"Yes sir" Nick said trying to prevent the groan from escaping his mouth as he thought about how he was going to survive the next few hours. He was sure Venetian masks are matt, how was he going to polish them enough to cause them to become reflective? Oh well, better get it done sooner rather than later he thought as he made his way into the cupboard. Starting his, well Jeff's punishment, by oiling the first delicate mask with foul smelling polish.

Jeff owed him big time for this. He just hoped that wherever Jeff was he was alright, and that when he got back he knew that Nick had been completely innocent, if that had been the reason as to why he had took off. If not, he just needed to know that Nick was there for him, and would always will be, that's what best friends are for. Best. Friends. He thought feeling a slight wave of sadness rush over him.

It had now just started to hit Nick how much Jeff meant to him, for he could feel the tears starting to brim his eyes as he thought of his blonde room-mate out somewhere, alone, possibly hurt from Nick's actions. He just sincerely hoped Jeff wouldn't do anything stupid.

Please hurry back Jeffy, Nick thought before returning his focus to the task he has been set.


	5. Chapter 5

The mild storm had completely blown over by the time Jeff had reached the Anderson's residence; the inside of the house appeared to be in darkness, with the only source of light beaming from an upstairs window on the far side of the house.

He knew which room the light belonged to, as he had been over the ex-warbler's house a few times over the previous summers. Jeff was just thankful his friend was in; throughout the duration of the journey he couldn't help have a feeling that he might have been over at Kurt's or another of the New Direction's houses. For once he had proved this gut feeling wrong.

Taking one last look in the mirror, Jeff attempted to fix his hair before stepping out of the car and making his way up the drive. He had no idea what time it was; surely it couldn't be that late, it had just started getting dark about ten minutes ago which meant Blaine would just be sat upstairs studying or chatting to others over skype. This made it the perfect time to be having a heartfelt conversation with his good friend.

Jeff quickly rang the doorbell; clearing his throat and fixing up his appearance as he waited for the small curly haired boy to come down and answer, hoping he wouldn't be too busy to offer the blonde some advice and catch up over a bit of chat.

After a few minutes or so, Jeff could hear footsteps followed by rustling coming from the downstairs. He prepared himself for the probably unusual greeting he was about to receive as he heard the turning of the key in the front door, followed by the creaking of the old wood as the door swung open, revealing a slightly dishevelled looking Blaine.

"Jeff!" the smaller boy cried, immediately pulling the blonde into a big bear hug

"Haven't seen you in a while, how are you dude?"

"Ah i'm okay, how're you doing?" Jeff replied, even though deep down he was not okay and that was in fact the reason why he was standing here at this very minute.

"Mm not bad" Blaine said whilst scratching the back of his neck and directing his gaze up at the taller boy "So...what brings you here?"

"Er..well I was wondering if I could come in" Jeff said looking sheepishly at the other boy "I..kinda need to talk to you...about something"

Blaine understood and immediately stepped aside to allow the blonde warbler inside. He knew that whatever Jeff had come to talk to him about must be important as the taller boy would usually just text or skype him to let him know what was on his mind; he had a feeling that now though it wasn't going to be about how much homework the boy had or how bad the food at Dalton was.

"Here i'll make you a coffee" Blaine said closing the door behind him "I'm just upstairs, so go on right up"

Jeff nodded and began kicking of his shoes before making his way up the large staircase to the ex-warbler's bedroom.

He could hear music playing from the TV as he made his way along the landing and nearer to the room. Blaine must be watching a movie, he thought as he pushed the door open slightly and made his way in to the bedroom.

"Who was it babe?" a tall brunette boy said as he rolled over to face the figure standing at the door, a look of surprise washing over his face as he realised it was Jeff.

"Oh Jeff, I-I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was you" Kurt smiled as he got up from his spot on the bed

"It's fine, I didn't realise you were here" Jeff replied, returning a smile to the brunette.

"Yeah, me and Blaine are having a bit of a movie night, it's been a bit of a long day and, you know, we just needed something to help us, unwind" Kurt said motioning to the TV that was now playing a scene from Wicked.

Even though he knew the two loved sitting back and watching musicals, Jeff couldn't help to think that by the way Blaine had looked when he had answered the door, watching the movie wasn't the only thing the two had been up to tonight.

Jeff was quickly distracted from his thoughts when said person walked into the room carrying a tray of coffee and some biscuits. Blaine quickly placed the tray down on the nightstand before planting a kiss on his boyfriend's cheek and handing a mug of coffee to the blonde warbler.

"Hope I wasn't gone too long, just thought I'd make us something to drink that is all" the curly haired boy said as he made his way over to the bed, Kurt following him swiftly after.

"Come and join us Jeff" Kurt said as he patted the space next to him, motioning for the taller boy to sit.

"Thanks guys, but I'm really not up for a movie night tonight, I actually came here to talk to Blaine about something" Jeff replied taking a sip of his coffee whilst doing so.

Kurt looked a little disheartened at the boy's comment and Jeff couldn't help but feel he had been a bit rude to Kurt, but in all honesty he just really couldn't be bothered with watching musicals with the lovey-dovey couple at this very moment.

"Are you okay Jeff?" Kurt said as he began to stand up and make his way towards the blonde "you seem a bit...off"

"I'm fine" Jeff mumbled, avoiding the gaze of the brunette in front of him who had begun eyeing him suspiciously

"No you're not, you've been crying" Kurt eventually said, flashing the blonde a look of sympathy before turning back to his boyfriend for some sort of answer.

Perfect, he couldn't hide it now. Whatever he was going to say to Blaine he had to now say in front of Kurt, let's face it, the boy wasn't going to be leaving any time soon and it's not like Blaine wouldn't have told him afterwards anyway.

"I know, I..things have just been pretty hectic at Dalton recently..I, well, I just needed to get away for a bit...I just needed someone to talk to" Jeff said looking down towards the curly haired boy before being pulled into a tight hug by the brunette.

"Well we're here to listen" Kurt said as he released the blonde warbler from his grip "so what's up?"

Jeff began to make his way over to the bed, sitting down on the corner and shuffling slightly as he prepared himself for what he was about to tell the two ex-warblers.

He knew they wouldn't judge him for it, same as he knew it wouldn't be that hard for them to hear; however Jeff couldn't help but feel nervous as he was about to finally admit to himself and his friends what he really was.

"Erm..guys..I need to tell you something" Jeff started whilst looking down and playing with his hands "I, well I wasn't really certain at first, b-but now I think it's starting to, you know, come clear...I'm, guys I'm..I'm gay"

Jeff let out a long breath as he looked up and was met with the gleaming smiles of his two friends. Kurt was clapping his hands together like a child as he turned to look at his boyfriend who expressed a look of pride on his face towards the blonde.

"Thanks for telling us Jeff" Blaine said as he patted the taller boy on the shoulder, taking a sip of his coffee as he did so

"So does this mean that Niff is official then?" Kurt said excitedly

"Niff?" Jeff asked looking at the boy in confusion, who now expressed a look of surprise at the blonde.

"Oh come on!" Kurt exclaimed "you and Nick of course!"

Wait, how did he know about me and Nick, well me liking Nick? Was I really that obvious? What if it had been obvious to the others as well, I bet that's what the rest of the warblers were gossiping about. That means pretty much all of Dalton would have known, and, what if Nick had known too? Then that's why Sebastian had tried to steal Nick away, to make sure I wouldn't get him, it was all starting to make sense now.

Jeff hadn't felt the tears that had started to form in his eyes, nor had he felt the comforting hands that had been placed on his knee by the curly haired boy. He didn't know what to say now, he knew he might as well come clean, it seemed they pretty much knew everything already.

"You really like him don't you?" Blaine said looking at the blonde warbler with empathy.

Jeff simply nodded, looking up to meet the gaze of the curly haired boy whilst trying to rub away the tears from his eyes. He quickly caught a glance at Kurt who was expressing a look of sympathy towards the blonde, before a wave of realism and sadness washed over him and caused Jeff to break down once again.

He was immediately pulled into a tight group hug by the two boys; Blaine, who was rubbing his back with one hand, was whispering soothing words into his ear whilst holding the hand of his boyfriend who looked as if he was about to break down himself from his understanding of Jeff's situation.

"I-I love h-him, s-s-so much" Jeff said through stifled sobs "b-but I can't h-have him"

"Why not?" Kurt eventually said looking down at the broken boy in front of him "Nick's obviously crazy about you, and he's single, so what's the problem?"

Wait, what? Nick was crazy about HIM? No, that wasn't true, at least it wasn't true now. Nick is obviously crazy about Sebastian, there was no way he could like Jeff that way now.

Jeff looked up towards the brunette, rubbing his eyes which were once again red and puffy before proceeding to tell the two about what had been going on at Dalton, about Nick and Sebastian and their little 'affairs'.

By the time Jeff had finished telling the couple about Warbler practise and how often Sebastian had gone around with his hands on the brunette, he had realised his coffee had gone cold and had begun taking a bite of a digestive in an attempt to get rid of the taste of the stale drink.

Kurt and Blaine were sat giving each other disapproving looks, obviously each thinking exactly the same thing.

"Look Sebastian is a player" Kurt said, a snarl playing on his face at the mention of that very name "he will literally go around touching anyone, I mean he tried to get all touchy feely with Blaine in front of me for gods sake!" Kurt began to turn towards his boyfriend flashing him a disapproving look.

"Babe, I've told you I'm sorry, I was drunk and, I let him get me" Blaine said looking across to Kurt guiltily before turning back towards Jeff.

"Trust me he will move on sooner or later, and I really don't think Nick's stupid enough to actually fall for him"

"Yeah, I mean seriously who could actually like 'Sebastian Smythe''?" Kurt said, emphasising the name in his best laid-back Sebastian voice he could muster up, causing a slight chuckle to part from Jeff's lips before he returned his gaze back to his hands.

"Trust me Jeff, Nick doesn't like Sebastian the way he likes you. I've seen the way he looks at you, believe it or not, it's the same way you look at him. It's so obvious the two of you were made for each other, you just need to let Nick see that, because I bet he's probably thinking exactly the same as you at the minute" Blaine said rubbing his thumb over the back of Jeff's hand, soothingly.

Nick really looked at him like that? No that couldn't be right, Nick looked at him the same way he looked at the other warblers and everyone else. He hadn't had noticed any difference, but then again Blaine would never lie, if both Blaine and Kurt had seen it, and possibly all the others as well, did that mean they were telling the truth? That Nick really did look at him that way, that Nick possibly did like him?

Jeff could feel his hopes beginning to rise before he immediately put a stop to his frivolous thoughts.

He would have to hear it from Nick himself first.

"You really think so guys?" Jeff said looking up at the pair with a slight glint of hope "You really think he likes me, like that?"

"Definitely!" the couple said in unison whilst each flashing the blonde a hopeful smile.

"So...do I..tell him? You know, that I like him?" Jeff asked sheepishly catching a glance at Blaine who was giving him a nod of approval.

"YES" Kurt cried clapping his hands together once more

"But only when you feel ready Jeff, I know how hard it is, telling the person you love" Blaine pitched in whilst quickly catching a glance at the brunette, who in return gave him a quick peck on the cheek before returning his focus back to the blonde in front of him.

"Don't feel pressured to tell him yet, but, I advise you do it sometime soon, it'll probably make this whole thing between the two of you easier once you both know the truth"

Jeff simply smiled at the couple, a genuine smile, something he hadn't done all day "Thank you, guys; really, thank you"

"We're here for you any time you need us Jeff, you're still part of our little family" Blaine said patting the boy gently on the shoulder

"You know that even though I'm not at Dalton anymore, and believe me I do miss it everyday; I'm still only a phone call away"

"and you have the other guys too remember, they're still part of the family" Kurt said whilst letting out a big yawn "so let them in, talk to them"

"They do know right?" Blaine asked, giving the blonde a look of questioning

Jeff shook his head, beginning to look at his hands again as he began to feel the stares of his two friends beginning to eat in to him.

"Oh Jeff" Kurt said wrapping an arm around the boys shoulder "they'll understand, just tell them"

He looked up at Blaine who once again gave him a nod of approval, before agreeing with the comment made by the brunette

"I will, I-I promise"

"Good" Kurt said as he made his way off of the bed, stretching as he did so "right, well, Kurt Hummel is tired and his beauty sleep is calling him" he added whilst beginning to rummage through his bag for his pouch of moisturising lotions.

"Right guys, Yeah, I should be off now" Jeff said getting up off of the bed and straightening his blazer

"Yeah you better make it back before curfew" Blaine said looking up at the taller boy "I heard the Dean's made it a lot stricter now"

"don't want to be getting yourself a detention do you Jeff?" Kurt said before making his way into Blaine's ensuite bathroom ready to begin his skin-slapping regime.

"Shit!" exclaimed Jeff running a hand through his hair whilst staring at the curly haired boy in horror "I had detention tonight with Porter!"

"Oh crap, Jeff" Blaine said returning the look of panic to the blonde "don't worry, I'm sure someone would have said something, Trent's in your class right?"

Jeff slowly breathed a sigh of relief. Trent would have said something surely, I mean he must have seen how upset Jeff was before he left, and being a good friend he hoped he would have made some kind of excuse up to Porter about why Jeff wasn't there.

"Yeah, I hope so" Jeff said as he began to make his way across the room "I'll just make something up in class tomorrow, it's no big deal really. Well I better be off now, thank you for tonight Blaine, I'm sorry I had to come and interrupt yours and Kurt's, erm, "movie" night"

Blaine immediately blushed at this comment, earning himself a grin from the taller boy.

"It's fine really, and we weren't doing anything...like that!" Blaine replied his blush now rising past his ears.

Jeff continued to grin goofily at the curly haired boy as he bid farewell to him, shouting back a goodbye to Kurt who was probably sat plastering his face in white stuff in the bathroom.

He still didn't know what the time was, he had completely forgotten to check; he just hoped he would have enough time to drive back and make it back inside before he was caught. He couldn't be dealing with anymore punishments at this minute, he still needed to figure out a good excuse to give to Mr. Porter about his failure to show up tonight.

Well at least one good thing had come out of tonight. There was the chance that Nick did like him. He just needed to find the guts to say what he felt to his best friend. Which brought him back to Nick, what if he had been worried sick all night when he had realised Jeff had gone?

Jeff quickly hopped inside of his car, turning on the engine and flashing one last look up to the ex-warbler's bedroom window, before pulling away and beginning to make the journey back to the school. He once again turned on the radio, feeling a bit more in the mood now that upbeat, cheerful songs were now sounding from the speakers of his car.

The visit had done him good, he now felt a lot better now; and he was going to tell Nick how he felt. At least at some point.

It had taken Jeff only 45 minutes to make the journey back to Dalton, with the roads being quiet and his determination to make it back before curfew, he had managed to put the car into full swing in an attempt to get back and avoid another detention.

The grounds were deserted by the time he had made his way out of the car park, the lights from the building were shining down on to the cobbled pathway, casting shadows of the nearby trees down on to newly-cut grass.

Jeff quickly made his way into the main building, quickly running past the desk of the receptionist, who was too busy engrossed in a book to probably notice anyway, and up the staircase towards the dorms.

He must say he was surprised when he had entered his and Nick's room, for there was no sign of the brunette anywhere. Taking off his blazer, he threw it down on to his bed before making his way out into the corridor and along to room 31.

After a few minutes of quietly knocking on the door, it eventually opened to reveal a surprised looking Trent, who quickly pulled the blonde inside, ushering him quietly into the bathroom.

"Where have you been!?" Trent exclaimed quietly, trying not to wake his roommate in the other room "We've been worried sick!"

"I just needed to get out of here, have you seen Nick?" Jeff whispered looking up to the round-faced warbler, hoping he would know where the small brunette had gotten to.

"you mean he isn't back yet?" Trent sighed glancing up at the blonde "he must have gone out to wait for you"

"What do you mean?" Jeff asked flashing a look of confusion and a slight bit of worry to the other boy

"He did your detention for you, made some excuse to Porter about why you couldn't make it. I thought he'd be back by now too, but...he must be out there, still waiting for you"

This touched Jeff's heart, Nick had did his detention for him, he had actually went out of his way to make sure Jeff wouldn't get into anymore trouble, that is so sweet, the poor boy must be exhausted after being made to do all those chores for Mr. Porter

Jeff was immediately pulled from his thoughts when he heard the sassy warbler speak up "you better go out there and find him, he's probably still waiting"

"Right" Jeff responded as he quickly made his way out of the bathroom, out of the fellow warbler's dorm and back down the stairs into the main building.

He quickly slipped out of the big doors, again avoiding getting caught by the receptionist and began jogging towards the small iron shelter that sat underneath the large trees that were situated near the main gates of Dalton.

He knew this would be where Nick would be, for it was the place the two of them used to go to whenever something was on their mind or they were waiting for one of them to return from a detention of some sort. That small, old, secluded bench held many memories for the two; they used to hang out there on lunchtimes and evenings during freshman year, before they had gotten to known the warblers properly and had been invited to sit with them during their free time.

It still held significant value in Jeff's mind, and he knew he had been right about Nick's whereabouts when he saw the silhouette of a small figure sat slumped on the left side of the bench.

Jeff quickened his pace upon seeing his best friend, he can't believe he had sat and waited for him, he thought before beginning to slow down and take gentle steps towards the shelter, being careful as not to startle the brunette.

Jeff had been surprised when he had finally reached it, for the boy had indeed been Nick, but instead of jumping up to greet the blonde like he had expected, the boy just sat slumped against the bench, unmoving.

"Nick!" Jeff cried in a hushed tone whilst beginning to shake the brunette on the shoulders

Jeff breathed a sigh of relief when he heard a faint snore come from the smaller boys lips. He's just asleep, no need to panic Jeff, he thought as he stood back to admire the sleeping boy.

How he looked so beautiful when he slept, sure Jeff had noticed before, they shared a room for pity's sake; but right now, Nick looked even more peaceful and angelic than ever before. Jeff didn't know if it was the way the light was glistening down on to the boy's face, emphasising each one of his pulchritudinous features, or the way the wind was lightly blowing a few strands of hair into his eyes, that made Jeff see just how stunning his best friend really was.

Jeff was immediately pulled back to reality when heard the loud 'gong' of the bell echo throughout the grounds, signalling the start of curfew.

He and Nick would have to hurry up and get back inside before the two were locked out for the night. Taking one more glance at the sleeping boy, he knew that getting Nick to walk back up the the dorms with him wasn't a possibility, for once the brunette was asleep he was out like a light; not even an earthquake would wake him up.

Jeff quickly slipped one arm across Nick's back and the other under his knees as he began to lift the smaller boy up, groaning as he did so. Yeah Nick might be small, but that didn't mean he was the lightest of all people; still Jeff could manage.

He was determined to carry his best friend back to their room bridal style, hopefully without getting caught by a teacher or a fellow student who would probably just give the boys a suspicious look.

It was late though now, so everyone would most likely be inside getting ready for bed, or in most cases at Dalton, sat upstairs attempting to pull an all-nighter to finish off bits of homework.

The coast was clear, the receptionist had probably now turned in for the night, making it easier for Jeff to quickly make his way through the entrance and to the staircase. He didn't know how he'd done it, for he wasn't that strong, but somehow he'd managed to get himself and the sleeping brunette in his arms up the large staircase and along the corridor to the dorms.

He quickly opened the door to his and Nick's room and gently placed the brunette down on his bed, going back to carefully shut the door behind him.

Jeff quickly slipped into the bathroom to brush his teeth before getting changed into a pair of sweatpants and a Dalton shirt. He took one glance over at the brunette before realising he couldn't leave him to sleep in his uniform, Nick would go mad if he found out he had went to sleep and had gotten creases in it.

He made his way over to the boy, unbuttoning his blazer and slipping it off, before undoing his tie and placing it inside the wardrobe with the rest of his uniform. Jeff managed to change his friend into a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie (the boy looked slightly chilly from being outside all evening) and had been surprised that the brunette hadn't stirred once during the process.

He neatly folded up the rest of Nick's uniform and placed it on the chair alongside his own, before pulling the covers overs the sleeping boy. He stood there for a few moments just looking down at the image of his best friend.

I will tell him. I promised them I'd tell him. Tomorrow Jeff, let him know how you feel tomorrow.

Jeff thought before leaning in to stroke away a few strands of hair that were covering the boy's eyes, and then gently placing a kiss on Nick's forehead.

He got up and made his way across the room, turning off the light before climbing into his own bed.

"Goodnight Nicky" Jeff said, turning over to get comfortable underneath his duvet

"I love you" he mumbled the last part before falling into a deep sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Nick awoke the next morning to the sun gleaming in to the shaded room, its rays shining down brightly on to the brunette, catching his eyes and making it impossible to continue his slumber. He tried turning over to block out the annoying light but eventually gave up and declared the sun victory as he sat himself upright and rubbed his eyes.

He began to take in his surroundings, realising he was back in the comfort of his dorm room.

That's strange he thought, pinching himself to make sure this was indeed reality, I don''t remember coming back to the room last night.

The brunette furrowed his eyebrows as he began to recall the events from the previous night, still trying to figure out how he had managed to get back up to the dorm without even remembering.

Okay so I cleaned the masks for Porter, gave him a whole stack of them, then was dismissed. Erm..oh then I came back up here, talked to Trent, went to look for Jeff...JEFF!

Nick immediately snapped his head up and began searching the room for his blonde room-mate. The bed opposite him was neatly made and it looked as if Jeff's uniform and belongings were missing, that could only mean two things; either the boy had came back last night and had gotten dressed and left for breakfast before Nick had woken up; or, he hadn't came back at all and was still out roaming Westerville somewhere.

Nick quickly jumped out of bed and began frantically searching for his cell phone, quickly unlocking it and checking for any updated messages upon retrieving it. Apart from the text from Sebastian reminding him they had an after school study session today and the one from his mother telling him that her and his father were heading to Chicago for the weekend, there were none from Jeff.

Nick was starting to feel a sense of worry building up inside of him again, where was Jeff? He needed to know, he needed to know his best friend was safe, he needed him back here, inside the safe gates of Dalton, with Nick.

The brunette startled slightly and focused his mind back to reality when he heard a loud knock on the door.

"Ni-cho-las" a sing-song voice said that could be recognised as the sassy warbler Trent's.

Nick put down his iPhone on the desk and began making his way over to the door, opening it and immediately pulling the warbler inside.

"Have you seen Jeff? He's not here. What if he didn't come back last night? What if he's still out there? Maybe he ran out of gas and is stuck? He isn't answering my calls, what if his phones dead? He could be stranded.." Nick began, his sense of worry slowly building into a panic as he continued his apprehensive rambling.

"Good morning to you too" Trent said, gripping Nick on the shoulders in an attempt to restore the brunette's concentration

"Look Nick, Jeff's fine, I've just been talking to him. He came back late last night, just before curfew...he went to visit Blaine"

Nick let out a sigh of relief upon hearing that Jeff was safe and was back at the school. Although he pretty much had a good idea of why the blonde had decided to unexpectedly pay a visit to the ex-warbler's house. Jeff and Blaine had always been pretty close; well all the warblers were really, so whenever there was a problem, after consulting about it with Nick first, Jeff would often call up the curly-haired boy and discuss with him whatever was on his mind. This time though, Nick suspected that whatever Jeff was feeling couldn't really be expressed through a simple phone call.

"He got back before curfew? But I waited for him, how come I didn't see him come back?" Nick said as he shot a look of confusion up at the round-faced warbler.

"Maybe that was because you were too busy asleep to notice" Trent replied chuckling slightly at the brunette in front of him

"Jeff said you were sleeping like a baby, he had to carry you back up to the room, then get you changed and tuck you in. I wouldn't be surprised if he had read you a bedtime story too"

Nick blushed slightly at the boy's explanation, He had fallen asleep, and Jeff had carried him all the way up here? Now that explained why he couldn't remember, he thought whilst expressing a sheepish smile to the round-faced warbler in front of him. He must have been a ton weight, how on earth Jeff had managed he did not know.

"Well...that's embarrassing" Nick said, hoping the pink would fade from his cheeks soon as he could see the other boy was grinning like a chesire cat at his embarrassment.

"How was he when you saw him? Still upset?"

"No actually, he seemed okay" Trent replied, thinking back to not 15 minutes ago when he had last spoken to the blonde

"I think the visit to Blaine had done him good"

That's a relief, Nick thought whilst flashing the sassy warbler a genuine smile, at least Jeff would be easier to talk to now.

"I really should go a talk to him" Nick said, trying to think of ways in which he could approach the subject to his best friend

"I dunno where to start though...should I apologise for what I think I did to upset him last night, or what?"

Trent gave the smaller boy a look, expressing a hint of awkwardness before agreeing to his plan for words.

"Just tell him what you told me, I mean it was all innocent right?" he raised an eyebrow at the brunette who in return gave him his best bitch glare.

"Of course it was!" Nick replied, swatting the round-faced warbler in order to stiffle the giggles that were coming from his mouth.

"Well then, you've got nothing to be worried about" Trent said as he shrugged at the brunette "and if he doesn't forgive you then offer to buy him a family size bag of red vines for himself"

Nick smirked at the boy's suggestion, for this had indeed been the solution in the past for the times when Jeff had found it difficult to forgive Nick and vice versa.

"Okay, I'll talk to him" Nick said as he took a seat on end of his room-mate's bed.

"Do you know what time it is man?"

The sassy warbler took a glance at his watch before widening his eyes in horror and gasping at the brunette.

"SHIT! Nick it's 8:55! Class starts in 5 minutes!" he exclaimed as he watched the smaller boy jump up from the bed in panic.

"What! Trent, you've made me late, I was supposed to be dressed by now!" Nick cried as he began frantically roaming his drawer for a fresh pair of underwear and socks.

"No you've made me late! I wasn't the one who slept in!" Trent pointed out, opening the wardrobe and hesitantly throwing a pile of Nick's uniform across the room at the brunette "HERE CATCH!"

"Thanks" Nick said sarcastically as picked up his tie from where it had landed near the bin.

"I gotta go man, double french with Mademoiselle Scollen" Trent said as be began making his way towards the door

"Hurry Nicholas, you're going to be late!" he sang as he exited the room, sprinting along the corridor as he did so in an attempt to make it to first period on time.

"I am!" Nick cried as he ran out into the corridor shouting after the round-faced boy

"And stop calling me that! It's Nick!"

The brunette quickly made his way back into the room and began putting on his uniform, trying to smoothen down his bed hair whilst he did so. He quickly slipped on his shoes and pulled on his blazer, fastening the first golden button before he swung his bag over his shoulder and made his way out of the dorm, bolting down the corridor as fast as he could, hoping his Chemistry teacher wouldn't punish him too much for showing up late to her lesson.

Class had started 15 minutes ago and there was still no sign of Nick. Jeff was beginning to wonder if his roomate had simply just slept in or if he had actually been abducted on his way to the lab; either way Jeff knew that Dr. Norbury would soon raise the question of the brunette's whereabouts and he would have to make some excuse up for the boy.

Usually Jeff would be the first to wake every morning, which meant he had the responsibility of waking up his languid roommate and making sure he actually got up and got dressed.

The morning however, Jeff had woken up just before 6am, an hour earlier than usual; thoughts had been circling his mind all night of how he was going to come out today and how he was going to tell his best friend the truth. To be honest, he was nervous, he was very nervous; it wasn't that he knew the others wouldn't find it hard to accept him , it was just the fact that he was finally putting it out in the open, finally expressing his true self, that he, Jeffrey Silas Sterling, was gay.

He had spent a while contemplating whether or not he was actually gay or whether it was just a phase; for not long ago he had come to the decision that he was bisexual, but now he seemed to have the indication that his feelings for boys were more than merely just crushes, for instance, what he felt for Nick was more that what he had ever felt for any girl.

His chat with the two ex-warblers last night had done him good, for his head was now a lot clearer and he now knew what he had to do, he had to come clean, he had to tell Nick the truth.

That however, was the hard part. Jeff had decided to take a long stroll around the grounds this morning in order to think of ways of how he was going to approach the subject. Since he was already awake, he thought that a bit of time spent outside in the open, next to nature, wouldn't do him any harm and would actually give him time to sort out his head first.

And it had done the trick, for Jeff felt a lot more certain of his decision, he was still scared, scared of how his best friend would react, but at least he now knew that he had to do it, I mean, he promised both himself and his friends that he would.

"Mr. Sterling?"

Jeff quickly returned his mind back to the classroom upon hearing his name being called.

"Yes miss?" he said looking up to face the stout ginger haired woman in front of him

"Were you paying attention?"

Jeff looked around to see all eyes in the room on him. Great, he thought, why is it always me who gets picked on in class? Jeff had to admit, he did have a bit of a habit of daydreaming, but only during the most boring lessons. However, chemistry, for him was usually quite an interesting lesson; he had never once before fallen into the trap of allowing his mind to take over when he was in the lab, but this might have been down to the fact that he shared a desk with Nick and that the brunette was good at keeping him entertained for the two hours.

"Mr. Sterling!" Dr. Norbury shouted causing the blonde to startle slightly

Jeff realised he had been doing it again, and was now faced with a slightly agitated looking chemistry teacher. He just needed his mind to shut up for two seconds.

"Sorry miss, I um..no I wasn't, could you say it again please?" Jeff spoke up, flashing a sheepish smile to the woman in front of him.

Dr. Norbury scowled before repeating her explanation on redox reactions to the blonde. Jeff quickly began making notes on the subject this time, the last thing he needed this semester was to be failing chemistry and have his parents on his back for it.

"Is that clear now Mr. Sterling?" the woman began again, eyeing Jeff cautiously "this will most likely be on the finals at the end of the year, so it is important that everyone has a good understanding of this. Speaking of everyone..."

she looked down at the empty seat next to the blonde

"Where is Mr. Duval?"

At that moment, as if he had been magically summoned, Nick burst through the door looking slightly breathless and dishevelled.

"Ah, speaking of the devil, it is nice of you to show up Mr. Duval" Dr. Norbury said giving the brunette an unamused look

"Sorry...miss" Nick began, panting heavily "I...can explain...I...slept in...I'm really...sorry"

The woman's features softened slightly when she realised how flushed the brunette was, he looked as if he was about to pass out any second from the exercise; sprinting across to the other side of the school in less than 30 seconds wasn't something Nick's body was conditioned to do.

"I'll let you off this one time" the woman began motioning for Nick to take his seat "but if it just so happens that you are 20 minutes late to my lesson again Mr. Duval, don't think that there won't be a punishment"

"Yes miss" Nick said as he took his seat next to Jeff.

"You look a little hot" Jeff whispered to his roommate, chuckling slightly

"Shut up, if you'd have just woken me up" Nick replied, nudging Jeff in the ribs whilst flashing a grin at the blonde "what have I missed?"

"Not much; redox reactions, oxidation numbers...all that crap" Jeff replied sighing at the brunette "did you sleep okay?"

Nick blushed slightly at the mention of the subject. "Erm...yeah. Hey, thanks man, for you know, taking me back to the room...I feel a bit silly now, for falling asleep"

Jeff just smiled at the boy, Nick looked so cute right now all flustered "It's no big deal, I couldn't just leave you out there, you would have probably have been eaten...by tumblrbeasts"

Nick chuckled at the his roommate's comment; tumblrbeasts were living creatures in Jeff's mind, it just showed how childish and adorable the blonde was sometimes.

He didn't know if he should bring up the subject now or later on, for Nick thought it might set off the taller boy; that was the last thing he wanted, especially in the middle of their chemistry lesson. He knew he would have to bring it up soon though, they needed to talk about what happened last night; Nick needed Jeff to know that he could trust him and that whatever Nick had done to cause him to run off like that, that he was sorry.

"You actually look like you've been attacked by a tumblrbeast" Jeff whispered again, pointing towards the brunette's slightly dishevelled appearance.

Nick had been in such a rush this morning, he hadn't found the time to really take a look in the mirror and sort out his bed hair, meaning he had probably showed up to class looking like a hobo in uniform. He desperately needed some hair gel at this present moment.

"Come here" Jeff said as he took hold of Nick's tie and began retying it into a neat knot

Nick was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable at Jeff's actions, it was just a bit unusual to have your best friend place his hands so close to your neck, Nick couldn't decide whether or not he liked having the feeling of Jeff finger's accidentally brushing over his skin.

"there" Jeff said as he admired his handy work "just one more thing"

Jeff licked his thumb and began smoothing down the pieces of Nick's hair that were sticking up at odd angles, tucking one long strand behind his ear before moving on to fix his lapels on his blazer.

"thanks" Nick said, feeling grateful for Jeff's assistance and flashing the boy a sheepish smile, to in which he returned.

"any time" Jeff said before returning to his work and starting to write down the newly given equations that were written on the board.

Nick did the same after getting out his books from his bag, he glanced over at the blonde's work, trying to quickly scribble down some of the notes he had missed before he turned the page.

The rest of the double lesson went by pretty swiftly, considering Nick had missed nearly half of it anyway, which was a good thing because this morning he really didn't feel like listening to Dr. Norbury droan on about oxidation and reduction equations.

The two had been the first to leave the lab after the bell had went, rushing to make their way back down to the main building in an attempt to get to front desk first, in order to pick up the forms for the trip. Jeff had received a text from Trent saying that they had came out and had kindly, if kindly could be a word used to describe the sassy warbler, asked them to pick one up for him and the others.

The duo had been on their way to the common room for break when they had bumped into their tall meerkat-faced captain.

"Hey Nick" he said, flashing a smile at the brunette before looking up to the other boy "Hello Jeff"

"Hi Seb, um..have you got one?" Nick said as he waved the sheet of paper at the taller boy

"For the trip? Nah I'll not be going" Sebastian replied brushing the form away

"..but, you kinda have to go. I'm going, Jeff's going, the rest of the warblers will be too. Come on man"

"Skiing just isn't my thing" Sebastian said as he folded his arms neatly across his chest, sighing at the smaller boy in front of him

"It isn't mine either but I have to go...go on, don't be a wimp!" Nick said as he playfully bumped the taller boy on the arm causing him to smile slightly

"Did you just call me a wimp? Well then..." Sebastian said before he jumped forward and grasped Nick's sides causing the brunette to squeam about in an attempt to escape from the boy's ticklish hands

Jeff just stood watching the two carry on, unimpressed. He didn't like it, he didn't like it one bit. He knew it was just a bit of harmless fun, even though Trent has reassured him that nothing was going on between Sebastian and Nick; he still couldn't brush away the jealously that was burning inside of him when he saw how relaxed and happy his best friend looked whenever Sebastian leaned in to touch him.

After several minutes of watching the two play tickle fight in the corridor, Sebastian eventually released Nick from his grasp before standing up straight again and fixing his blazer.

Nick did the same before returning to his spot beside the blonde, the smile still etched on his face.

"Honestly, you're so childish" Nick said, earning himself a 'bitch please' look from the meerkat-faced boy

"And you're not?"

"um...not as much as you, seriously dude no wonder Blaine thought you were a freshman"

Jeff snorted slightly at this comment, it was true, the curly-haired boy had asked if Sebastian was a freshman during their first meeting, something which obviously the lead warbler had taken slight offence to.

"Oh that does it..." Sebastian said as he went to start another tickle war with the brunette before the bell rang and stopped him in his tracks

"Damn it..i'll get you later. Don't forget tonight, come by my room about 5"

"Will do, see ya then" Nick said before tugging Jeff's arm as he began to make his way down the corridor to his psychology lesson.

"What's happening tonight?" Jeff asked, looking down at his roommate curiously

"Ah just studying with Seb, he needs some help with this thing we're doing in math" Nick replied before shaking his head as a smile played on his lips

"He's funny Sebastian, isn't he?"

Jeff couldn't help but roll his eyes at the brunette's comment; if there was one thing Sebastian Smythe was, it certainty wasn't funny. Jeff just simply nodded, agreeing with his best friend before a wave of anxiousness washed over him as he remembered what he was supposed to be doing at lunchtime. He needed to get his focus back, he had something important he needed to announce to the others in just over an hour and it had only hit him again now.

I have to do this he thought before saying goodbye to Nick and making his way to Art for third period.


	7. Chapter 7

Jeff couldn't shake away the nerves he was feeing throughout the lesson; he had tried focusing his mind on doing something productive, such as finishing off the final part of his painting, but he was finding it impossible to direct his attention to anything other than his upcoming plans for lunch.

The bell for lunch came much quicker than Jeff would have liked, he began packing away his materials before heading out of the classroom towards the cafeteria. The nerves still present as he strolled through the hallways.

When he arrived most of the group were already seated in their usual spots, David and Thad on the far side of the table, with Nick and Trent to the right of them, followed by a few other warblers to fill in the space; leaving a spare seat for the blonde opposite his best friend.

After picking up some food from the counter, Jeff quickly returned to join in the conversation taking place at the table.

"I don't see why you can't just tell her man" Thad said, shrugging at his friend

"'coz I don't wanna look like a total loser in front of her, she's hot dude!" David replied whilst taking a sip of his coffee, eyeing the others across the table who were raising an eyebrow at the ex-coucil member.

Jeff leaned in towards his roommate, catching his eye and smiling at the brunette

"So who's he's hitting on now then?"

"Someone from Crawford I think...Kate or Katie or someone" Nick said, taking a bite of his sandwich before changing the topic to how ridiculous the psychology work he had been given was.

Jeff was just about to start a rant about how stupid most modern artwork was when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out and opened a text from his curly-haired friend.

Hey dude, how did they take it? -B

Jeff groaned internally, he hadn't even told them yet. He was waiting for them to finish chatting over the many girlfriends David had had, before he made his announcement.

The conversation had eventually died down after the group of warblers had run out of things to gossip about, making it the perfect time for the blonde to come clean. He took a deep breathe, closing his eyes as he prepared himself for what was coming, before he called attention from the group.

"Um guys...I have something to tell you"

All eyes turned towards the blonde, curiosity gleaming from their faces.

"What's up dude?" Andrew asked, setting down his coffee as he leaned in closer towards the boy, the rest of the group doing the same.

"Erm...well I went to see Blaine last night...just to you know, get away from a few things here for a bit"

He saw Nick look down at this, guilt obviously present in his eyes. He knew, Trent must of told him what happened.

He was immediately faced with lot's of questions regarding the ex-warbler, mainly from the younger members of the group who had looked up to Blaine as an idol, but also from those who had been his close friends.

"So how is he then? Him and Kurt done it yet?" Cameron asked, earning himself a nudge from Flint at the mention of the curly-haired boy's sex life.

"Oh erm..he's fine, and I dunno about that" Jeff said as he watched a few of the others giggle at the subject.

"but we had a good talk and...he made me realise something"

"That blonde isn't your colour?" Flint added, causing the group to shoot him a wave of scrunched up expressions at his fatuous comment.

"Thanks...but no" Jeff replied, shooting an offended look at the sophomore

"He made me realise that I shouldn't have to keep it a secret, that I should just open up...and you guys would understand"

Nick slowly lifted his head and turned to face his best friend. It made Jeff feel a bit more uncomfortable about what he was about to say with Nick sat there watching him. He hoped that he, more than anyone would understand.

"Dude just tell us" Thad spoke up, ushering for the blonde to continue.

Here it goes, just get it out there Jeff.

"Right" he started, trying to remain calm under all the pressure that was building up around him

"I'm..."

"Hello everyone"

The group looked up to face the tall boy that had just approached the table, most of them grimacing at his presence.

Seriously! He has the worst timing ever, can't he see I was about to tell them something important! Jeff thought as he exhaled deeply, trying to refrain from strangling the boy for ruining his moment, which had already been pressurising to begin with.

"What do you need Sebastian?" Trent asked, keeping a cool tone as he eyed the meerkat-faced boy

"Oh nothing...what a guy can't see how his fellow warblers are doing?" he replied smugly, earning himself a few more dirty looks from the group.

"You should join us" Nick said as he motioned for the taller boy to take a seat.

Jeff, along with the others who were shooting astounded looks towards the brunette, wanted to slap Nick. Why is he inviting him to sit with us? No one here likes him.

Sebastian took his seat next to Trent as the table fell into an awkward silence, he quickly flashed a smile towards Nick before resting his elbows on the table and observing the group.

"Well...this is cosy" he said, sighing as the others gave him a flash of half-smiles.

"Anyway, what did you want to tell us Jeff?" Thad interrupted, focusing his attention back to the blonde.

Jeff reverted his eyes away from the meekat-faced boy and looked around at the group. I can't tell them now, not with him there. Why did he have to go and ruin the moment? Stupid bloody Sebastian!

"oh erm...it doesn't matter, it's not important"

"But you said it was" David said furrowing his eyebrows at the boy.

"It can wait" Jeff said as he pulled out his phone and began to write a text back to the ex-warbler

Hey I couldn't tell them, I was going to then Sebastian showed up and I just couldn't :-/ –J

Jeff sat and watched as the conversations started again, about two or three different ones taking place at the same time; the ex-council members were back on the topic of David's girlfriends whilst most of the others were discussing what upcoming films they wanted to see. However Jeff was mostly interested in the quiet conversation that was going on between his best friend and their meerkat-faced leader.

They're probably just talking about homework or stuff, Jeff tried to reassure himself before he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket

It's ok dude, just tell them 2moro. They'll understand, I promise :-) -B

Jeff sighed as he typed a reply, he hoped they would.

Hope so, I will :-) -J

Let me know how it goes dude :-P -B

Jeff put his phone away before returning his attention to the group. He decided to join in the conversation between Flint, Cameron and a few others, who were busy debating over who was better between Hawkeye and Captain America; carefully watching Nick and Sebastian out of the corner of his eye.

He just sat and nodded, pretending to be going along with the boys' conversation, only paying attention to the two who were being rather quiet in the corner.

What are they being so quiet about? It's probably nothing, stop letting it get to you Jeff!

"What about you Jeff?" Cameron interrupted the blonde from his thoughts

"huh?" Jeff turned towards the younger boy, having not paid any attention to the question being asked

"Captain America or Loki?"

"Captain America" Jeff mumbled, returning his gaze back to the two, who had now somehow shuffled closer; Sebastian being only a few inches away from his best friend.

What happened next made the jealously boil up inside of Jeff, Sebastian was running a thumb over Nick's lips, brushing away the crumbs as he looked him in the eye. Nick just remained still and smiled at the meerkat-faced boy, a blush rising to his ears as Sebastian stroked his hand down the brunette's cheek.

It took a lot of effort for Jeff not to pounce on the boy, he felt like a bull in a china shop at watching that slut touch his Nick; what was worse is that no one else seemed to notice, well so he thought.

"Are you okay?" Trent said, flashing a look of concern at the blonde, who probably looked as if he was about to kill someone.

"Yeah. Excuse me" Jeff said as he stood up and slowly made his way towards the door.

This caught Nick's attention, the brunette looked up and flashed a confused look at his friend before getting up and following the blonde.

"Hey" Nick said as he grabbed Jeff's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks

"Are you okay? What was that about?"

What do you mean what was that about? Maybe it was about you and that slut being all touchy-feely in my face!

"Nothing, I'm fine" Jeff mumbled, turning away from the brunette

"You're not fine!" Nick cried, running in front of the blonde in an attempt to stop him from walking away again

"Look Jeff, I know you were upset with me last night"

Jeff sighed and rolled his eyes at the smaller boy, he really didn't want to be having this conversation.

"Trent told me...I-I'm sorry, I know you don't really like Sebastian, maybe I've been spending a bit too much time with him" Nick looked down at his shoes, not wanting to meet the blonde's eyes

"I don't want you to think that you're not still important to me" Nick lifted his head to look at the blonde, placing a hand on his arm

"You're still my best friend, nothing's ever gonna change that 6"

"Then why doesn't it feel like it?" Jeff said, not taking his eyes off the brunette; he just wanted his Nick back.

"I don't understand, what's the problem?" Nick said, hesitantly looking at the taller boy for answers

"What's the problem?" Jeff furrowed his eyebrows "Why did you have to ask him to sit with us? You know we have to put up with him enough during practise, why at lunch now too?"

"He doesn't have anyone else, I was just been a good friend" Nick said looking down at his feet once again

"And whose fault is that? It's not our fault he's a stuck up bastard" Jeff said coldly, not lifting his gaze from the brunette.

"Is this all this is about? You guys not liking Seb?" Nick glared at the taller boy

"You know if you actually took the time to know him you'd realise he's actually okay... I can't believe you out of all people would put me down for trying to be nice"

"But you don't see it though do you!" Jeff shouted, causing a few heads to turn in his direction from the cafeteria

"He's just using you! And you just let him..you let him sit there and touch you, doesn't it bother you at all!?"

Nick was taken aback by Jeff's sudden outburst. Okay maybe Sebastian did get a bit too close for comfort sometimes, but it was just the way he was. It had been a little uncomfortable at first but Nick had just gotten used to it; maybe the others just had a hard time accepting that, Jeff in particular.

"Does it bother you?" Nick asked, searching the blonde for an answer. Why did Jeff have such a problem with it?

Jeff just stood and looked at the brunette, he didn't know how to answer that. The thoughts were screaming inside his head; Of course it bothers me! I love you! I always have! And it hurts to see you with another man...whether he actually likes you or not! Why can't you just see that he's using you? You're gonna get hurt like last time! Why can't you just see it? Sometimes you can be so stupid Nicholas!

"Of course not" Jeff lied, keeping his tone cool as to not express any of the emotion he was feeling "I just don't want to see you get hurt"

"There's nothing going on between me and Sebastian!" Nick shouted, raising his hands in defeat

"We're just friends, Fer-riends, that's all it is...like I'm friends with Thad and David and Trent"

"Yes but this is Sebastian!" Jeff said matter-of-factly

"Why does it bother you so much!?" Nick cried, glaring at the blonde; a hint anger present in his voice

Jeff remained silent, he didn't know what to say; It did bother him, it bothered him a hell of a lot.

"You know what? Just forget it...I'll see you later" Nick said before he turned on his heel and made his way back into the cafeteria.

Jeff just stood stagnant in the corridor, alone.

Great, he thought; he had upset Nick now. The rest of the day was going to be awkward, he had better start thinking up an apology now to give to the brunette.

The rest of the afternoon had been awkward, just as Jeff had predicted. He had spent a whole hour of Spanish with Nick, who had only made contact with the blonde when he needed to turn the page or borrow a pen. He had managed to go through last period talking to Trent, thankfully the brunette didn't take geography as a subject so he was safe for an hour.

After the bell had rung signalling the end of the day, Jeff made his way to the library; he needed to make a pit stop to pick up a book for history class, there was going to be a lot of reading needed to be done if he wanted to remain top of the class in the subject.

The library at Dalton was always terrible for trying to find a certain book, the bookcases were long and tall and often filled with books that had been misplaced or just shoved in out of the way. Jeff had went along the history section twice and still had had no luck finding what he was after.

He was thinking about resorting to ask the librarian – something he really didn't want to do, since the woman didn't particularly like him after him and Nick had caused havoc in the library during freshman year. However he really didn't feel up to spending most of his evening hunting down a book, so he gave the shelf one more thorough search before he decided he would just ask for her assistance.

"I would try over there if I was you" a cool voice said making Jeff turn on his heel to find the source of it

"Um..hello?" Jeff looked down the aisle, surprised when he found it was empty.

Strange. You've just had a long day Jeff

"Third row down, sixth from the left" the voice said causing the blonde to snap his head in the direction of a bookcase

"...thanks" he said as he pulled out the book he was looking for.

Jeff looked towards the books on the shelf, before jumping up in shock as they slid apart, revealing the meerkat-face of Sebastian Smythe.

"Don't mention it"

Jeff had just begun to recover from his mini heart attack as the boy smirked at him

"Hello Jeff"

"What do you want Sebastian?" he said, standing up straight and fixing his blazer

"You seemed upset earlier" Sebastian said as he made his way around the bookcase and stopped in front of the blonde.

"What was all that about?"

Yeah like I'm gonna tell you, you'd have a field day if you knew.

"None of your business" Jeff said as he started to make his way towards the library desk

"Now come on, I'm not the enemy here" the taller boy said, raising an eyebrow at the blonde

Really? 'Coz you're certainly the enemy in my books.

"I said it's nothing"

"Fine...well Nicky seemed upset earlier, I just thought you'd might know something about that?"

Whoa whoa whoa! Nobody, and I mean, nobody, calls Nick Nicky; that was my name for him, he wasn't stealing that too!

"Nope, I'm sure that whatever's going on with Nick, he'll tell me later" Jeff said, shrugging off the boy

"Hmm..see I'm not so sure about that. It seems to me that you and Duval aren't really best of buds anymore. Well not after what he told me"

Jeff actually wanted to punch him, he actually wanted to punch him right in the face at that moment; he didn't care if he was kicked out of the Warblers, he wasn't going to stand around and let that slut get to him. However, he was in a school where violence was practically illegal, meaning if he didn't want to be spending the rest of the evening in the Dean's office, he would just have to pretend to play it cool.

"Ah well, I'm sure he'll come around...it was just a little misunderstanding" Jeff said as he half-smiled at the meerkat-faced boy

"I wouldn't bet on it Sterling...in fact, I would be starting to think of who you're going to be rooming with on this trip, cause I can tell you it certainly won't be Nicky" Sebastian said whilst casually shaking his head

"And why not?" Jeff said, stopping in his tracks to glare at the taller boy

"Because...he's rooming with me...and the other guys"

Jeff didn't know who 'the other guys' were but he had a feeling they weren't any of the Warblers. Probably some of Sebastian's only friends, who would most likely be snotty stuck-up seniors; Jeff had in mind a few people.

He was determined to show that he wasn't bothered, even though deep down it made his blood boil the way the meerkat-faced boy was just taking ownership of his best friend.

"Ah well...I guess Nick will just have to decide who he wants to stay with. His roommate slash best friend, or you" Jeff said smirking at the boy in front of him before placing his book down on the desk, ready for it to be checked out.

"I guess he will" Sebastian said as he brushed his shoulder against the blonde and strode out of the library's double doors.

After checking out the book and placing it carefully inside his bag, Jeff made his way out of the library and up the stairs towards the dorms. After unlocking the door to the room, he dumped his bag on the floor and fell back on to his bed, letting his eyes wander to the ceiling.

He was upset, angry, hurt. A mixture of emotions were building up inside of him; but he wasn't going to cry, no, he had done quite enough of that over the last few days. He was going to be calm, he wasn't going to let Sebastian get to him. He just thought back to what Blaine and Kurt had said, and then to what Nick had said today.

Nick had seemed bothered by the way Jeff had acted today, that's why he had stormed off and had gone crying to Sebastian. Maybe his best friend did actually care, maybe he did like him.

Jeff smiled at the thought; if it was true, he could have Nick. He could finally have exactly what he wanted. The thing he wanted more than anything, and no one would be able to take it away from him.

Having saying that, Jeff realised that at this moment none of that was ever going to be possible, considering he wasn't in the brunette's good books at the moment. He had to apologise; even though he hated admitting he was wrong, which this time he had a feeling he wasn't, he had to make it right.

As soon as Nick got back, he would tell him he was sorry. He would make everything okay again. He would get his Nick back if it was the last thing he would ever do.


End file.
